MPs attack U turn over fuel for making them ‘look a wally’

George Osborne’s £550 million fuel duty U-turn has put the Government’s economic credibility at risk, according to annoyed MPs and ministers blindsided by the abrupt decision.

As ministers struggled to explain how they would make up for the lost revenue, David Cameron fended off Labour accusations of Government “panic at the pumps”.

The Prime Minister said he was proud that, by deferring a 3p-a-litre rise in fuel duty from August to January, the Government was “defusing Labour’s tax bombshell”. But what should have been a populist measure among Tory MPs instead received a circumspect welcome.

Some expressed irritation that Mr Osborne, after U-turns on successive Budget measures, had again left them defending a tax rise until he changed his mind. “I don’t mind marching to…